Thursday writery.

[jolantru]

Woke up, today, with a story title in mind! In the dream, I was combing through bargain-bin sff books. I saw some by Nix Williams. One book caught my eye, though it cost about 3.10 (SGD). The Adventures of Flair. It's a tale about a young dragon, set in a steampunk world. One book cover had a red dragon acting as a bi-plane. Hehe.

Writery stuff. Well, I am still debating whether I should go the traditional publishing route or not. Or that I would keep beating my metaphorical head against the windowpane (or desk). The market here in Singapore is severely limited. Not sure even how overseas publishers would take to my stories. They seem quite US-centric.

EDIT:
Thoughts on my current tale:
The main character has a Navajo boyfriend. She herself is Chinese (I keep seeing Eurasian though, in my mind - I mean, it's the future!). However, boyfriend is more fleshed-out than she is. She is a girl who can't figure herself out and is confused. She is slowly coming into herself, as a person. In short, she is growing up!

Comments

[delfinnium]

ooooh do tell more when you research about publishing in Singapore? I'm interested - and Only know about raintree publishing and maybe asiapac. :|

[jolantru]

Okay, the publishing industry is very small here - mainly textbook/educational-related or that they focus on mainstream topics like recipes, memoirs, self-help books and ghost stories.

Flame of the Forest - I am avoiding it at all costs, because when I sent my query letter, I got a "Thank you for your submission. We have decided not to published" email. The editor who was going through the slush pile had bad manners.

Marshall Cavendish - Mostly textbooks and coffee table books. I think they also feature autobiographies.

Ethos Publishing - A small press but they are relatively new and open to new ideas. Not sure about speculative fiction though. I went through their imprints and new books - mostly poetry and children's books (Children's books are becoming quite popular here).

I have not checked on Raintree yet.

[jolantru]

Okay, checked out Raintree. They concentrate mostly on children and curriculum-based material. :P

Pearson - Curriculum-based. Think assessment and textbooks.

PanPac - The same. I know, because I worked there before as an editor. (PanPac is now a sister-company to Marshall Cavendish who bought it over).

World Scientific - Academic journals, academic books.

[delfinnium]

... bah. :( That means everything is practically not good at ALL. :((((((

Argh. Education or 'just kids', What about the Singapore Ghost stories? Where are they published?

[jolantru]

Singapore Ghost Stories - Flame of the Forest. *shudder* I personally feel that the series is stale but apparently, they are still keeping it, because people are still buying. Market dictates supply. :P

Yeah, Singapore is really limited when it comes to speculative fiction, fantasy or horror (not the kind Russell Lee is churning out...). It's good if you are a textbook or assessment book writer (a few people pride themselves on this - "I write textbooks/assessment books! I am famous!"). But for us speculative fiction people, it's no go.

Ya know, I am actually cheesed off enough to want to start a small press here focussing on sff.

At the moment, I am looking at small presses outside Singapore. Duotrope.com is a good place to look for publishers who specify their needs and themes. I have some luck with Bards and Sages Quarterly. I have a story slated, I think, for their January 2010 publication.

[delfinnium]

Aaah. I see. I found a small press in NZ - which is pretty small BUT they actually published a story by Sherwood Smith, which really gets me interested, even if the pay off is tiny.

[delfinnium]

Ah , here it is. Semaphore Magazine.

[delfinnium]

Well! if you use the people from Fen-at-sea and your Sff comm, surely you'd be able to rustle up some writers who'd kickstart the small press. :3 LIke Bravecows' school girl story.

I have... well, China-based fantasy, but it's not yet done. at the rate it's going, it's NEVER going to finish, the damn thing.

[jolantru]

Mmmm, I will have to think the idea through. It might... will... work. :) Bravecows' school girl story sounds intriguing. Will look around for people who know code and layout artists/design artists. Mmmm. And payment systems. That too.

Keep on writing your story. it will be done. Eventually, as I always tell myself. :)

[jolantru]

Looks interesting... :)

Thanks for the heads-up!

[delfinnium]

It might! the only thing is needing readers. >.>

[jolantru]

That's the main things writers worry about. Readers, audiences.

[delfinnium]

ah, well, if you advertised like how Verb-Noire did, it's possible. But what I meant was readers to edit and choose books to be published, just like how Semaphore Mag does it- they do it for free, which is why the pay off is so low.

[jolantru]

Mmmm.

*ponders*

[delfinnium]

Yeah. >.>

<.<

It'd be worth it, I think, if it's ASEAN

[jolantru]

Mmmm. I am thinking: start small and then work way up to ASEAN level. ;)

[delfinnium]

Haaaa. :P Small is good. I've been talking to my friend about it, and well, I think that there ARE writers/artists in Singapore, we're just told that there are no one interested, no one who wants to read our work, that we just give up.

Yet, Wee Tian Beng managed to become a really good mangaka. AND he started his own, manga too. Granted, it's Chinese-based fantasy, but for once it's made by a blatantly Singaporean Artist who has pretty good fame, so...

It's possible. Start small, do mags, maybe sell the PDFs for a small fee, that sort of thing.

[jolantru]

*nods* I personally know a handful. There ARE writers and artists. There is Janei Chui who does great art. She is known as marrael on LJ. Another one is madscuzzy who is mostly Warhammer 40K and he does fantastic art. To name a few...

I am thinking something along the lines of a zine (print) or even online... Going the e-book way sounds good.

[delfinnium]

Yup. Online zines - like the semaphore press, like pay for the print version, pdfs free, e-book small fee, or something. Or the work is readable online but pdfs cost. Or something. Something to whet people's appetite.

[jolantru]

Verb Noire does the e-book way. Downloadable pdfs with a small fee. Mmm.

Much thinkery for this.

(Going back to bed - baby kicking me awake)

[delfinnium]

hmm. onlines might be good, because people have a computer and all... though you know how it is, not exactly easy or cheap to get printed stuff for free unless you're a Uni student...

So maybe online stuff is small fee, and papery form is more expensive? Dunno.

[jolantru]

Online stuff sounds more workable...